Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I do want to acknowledge we've had a lot of conversations, and I'm grateful for the MLA from the Sahtu. He is in our ears all the time, and it brings the reality of the people on the ground to what can sometimes seem far away when you're not in the moment of it, brought that voice to Ottawa last week as well. And I'm grateful that he was there to do that.

Mr. Speaker, the fuel resupply to the Sahtu is through Imperial Oil. The fuel services division supplies the other Sahtu communities. So figuring out exactly whether we use public dollars to...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Hay River North, Minister of Justice, will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to host the federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers of Justice meeting.

Mr. Speaker, I also wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes will be absent from the House today and tomorrow in order to attend to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following nine documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 7-20(1): Report on the Review of the 2022-2023 public accounts; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 37-20(1): Mackenzie Valley Highway Business Case Renewal; Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 28-20(1): Consideration for Elders and Seniors in Debt Elimination; Response to Petition 2-20(1): Improved Fertility and Family Planning Supports in the Northwest Territories; Follow-up letter for Oral Question 175-20(1): Marine...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure took a fairly significant role last year. You'll recall that just a little later, less than a year ago, we were already in a situation where because of last year's challenged barge season there was some resupply of fuel that had to happen by air into the Sahtu. That came with costs. It came obviously with some uncertainty right in and around the Christmas period. We were able to get resupplied, and then started into the winter road season. We widened the winter road, had increased patrols on the winter road, had increased...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our Department of Infrastructure does work quite closely with the Arctic Energy Alliance. On this particular area, though, right now in terms of subsidies for wood pellets and, indeed, subsidies for quite a number of energy efficiency programs, this is right now unfunded. This was one of the areas where the federal low carbon economy leadership fund was reduced rather significantly and took a significant hit on our budget in this space. So we are actively asking the federal government what they're going to be doing to bring that back and recapitalize it. We'll get that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can always do more. There's always room to improve. There's no doubt about that. And quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, the last five years have had a lot of crises and a lot of difficult times and a lot has been asked for the public service in the last five years. So learning through those processes and managing those changes and managing them into the future, absolutely, we can continue to improve. And, again, whether that's through doing the development training that is already on offer, that includes change management, whether that's in terms of our own...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 9, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2024-2025, be read for the second time.

This bill makes supplementary appropriations for infrastructure expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 9, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 2024-2025, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee report 1-20(1): Report on the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to take this opportunity to bring attention to a very accomplished athlete from Yellowknife South.

Mr. Speaker, last summer Chelsey Makaro travelled to Berlin, Germany, as part of Team Canada at the Special Olympics World Summer Games and came home with not one, but two gold medals - one for the 25-meter backstroke and the other as part of the 4 by 50 meter freestyle team relay. These medals also made Chelsey the first Northwest Territories female athlete to win gold at the Special Olympics World Games. And with this accomplishment, together with all...